Iraqi PM seeks indefinite US troop presence

AL SUDANI SAYS FORCES ARE STILL NEEDED TO ELIMINATE DAESH

II don’t see this [Gulf countries’ approach to ties with US] as an impossible matter, to see Iraq have a good relationship with Iran and the US.”

Mohammad Al Sudani | Iraqi Prime Minister

raqi Prime Minister Mohammad Al Sudani defended the presence of US troops in his country and set no timetable for their withdrawal, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Sunday.

Referring to the US and Nato troop contingents that train and assist Iraqi units in countering Daesh but largely stay out of combat, Al Sudani said that the foreign forces are still needed. “Elimination of Daesh needs some more time,” he said in the interview.

Al Sudani, who met last month in Baghdad with the top US commander in the Middle East, Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, said another reason to keep foreign forces in Iraq is that they provide a logistics hub for resupplying American forces battling the remnants of Daesh in neighboring Syria, a mission that he acknowledged helps prevent the resurgence of the group in both countries.

“Inside Iraq we do not need combat forces,” Al Sudani said, referring to the US role in assisting with training of Iraqi troops and intelligence in going after Daesh. “If there is a threat for Iraq, it is the penetration of the [Daesh] cells through Syria.”

High-level delegation

Al Sudani, who took office last October, told the Wall Street Journal that he planned to send a high-level delegation to Washington for talks with US officials next month, adding that Iraq would like similar relations with Washington to those enjoyed by Saudi Arabia and other Arabian Gulf oil and gas producers. Those countries have longstanding military and economic ties with the US but have also sought to carve out more-independent positions in recent years.

“We strive for that,” he said of the Gulf countries’ approach. “I don’t see this as an impossible matter, to see Iraq have a good relationship with Iran and the US,” Al Sudani told the newspaper.

Until now, Al Sudani has been publicly silent about his views on keeping US forces in Iraq, saying only that he would consult Iraqi commanders. Some pro-Iranian militia leaders and Al Sudani’s supporters in Parliament are pressing him to reconsider the US presence.

That has left Biden administration officials unsure about the future of around 2,000 American troops in Iraq and a separate multinational training force under Nato command.

Al Sudani, who had little international experience and is mostly unknown in the West, is trying to broaden his outreach to the Biden administration and other Western governments in hopes of attracting investment and aid, as well as to counter criticism that his government is too closely aligned with Iran.

But it is Baghdad’s relationship with Iran that is a particular barrier to Al Sudani’s goal of forging closer relations with Washington, analysts say.

“He’s facing an uphill battle from the start because of this American-led unwillingness to view Iraqi politics as anything but a reflection of Iran and as black and white,” Marsin Al Shamary, a research fellow in Iraqi politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, told the Wall Street Journal.